McCain can hope all the predictions are wrong, or that Joe Biden keeps saying crazy stuff I guess. Firstly though when I think about it all now though, I think he's done quite a few things right in terms of his campaign. The choice of Sarah Palin could be described as hilarious, odd, disgusting, etc...but also quite shrewd. If he had people (and he probably did) telling him that he needed to attract a certain demographic of people - conservative women, conservatives in general, the Christian Right and such - to his candidacy and to the polls on election day, then that's exactly the kind of person he needed. Whatever anyone's personal thoughts on Mrs. Palin are, she certainly has been beneficial to him in terms of publicity and perhaps (yet to be seen) getting more people out to vote. Most people who laugh at the way she haphazardly and mindlessly (was that judgemental?) answers questions by, say, Katie Couric probably were never going to vote for McCain anyway. So it seems he's tried to target certain types of voters to engineer what would have to be a very slight victory...it's just not working as much as he'd like it to. And as much as voters say they hate negative campaigns, and this one has certainly become that, they still hear it all (or worse, only some of it) and those who are still undecided could be swayed by a well-executed issue or character attack even if it's untrue or irrelevant. McCain may be riding on the edge of that one though, by allowing his running mate to step out and call Obama a terrorist at what I'm sure are very fun rallies. Of course there are things that didn't make much sense either - like "stopping" his campaign and ultimately pitching a government buyout of home mortgages and then calling Obama the socialist, or implying that he personally knows some sort of terrorsist-catching secret that he's apparently been unwilling to share with President Bush.
I would say in some regard to continue what he already seems to be doing in working hard to reach certain demographics - those race, religion, and income gaps that overwhelmingly supported President Bush over Kerry in '04 (Olson and Green, 444) to make sure they vote. Perhaps his running mate will help him hold a similar distribution of women's votes too (since McCain probably creeps women out), as Bush ran almost evenly with Kerry in that category in '04 also. To the extent that it is under his control, I think it might be a good time to tone down the personal nature of some of the character attacks directed at Obama. In all seriousness - Fox News can do that part for him; I just think it makes him look desperate and tacky.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I agree with your comments on Governor Palin. On the surface a may be seen as a mistake but I think it was exactly what McCain needed to excite his base. I also feel Palin makes far less serious gaffes then Biden does. I think Sundays comments by the Senator are a clear example. The difference is Palin’s comments get much more coverage and scrutiny from the press then Biden does. I think If Sara Palin would have said about McCain what Biden said about Obama the comments would be the talk of the town and on the front page of every paper.
What is John McCain doing to "reach certain demographics." As you say? targeting is easier to announce than accomplish. Is what he is doing working? Do we get a link?
Well sure - http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/21/mccain-targets-white-clinton-strongholds/
It's easier to announce than accomplish, and probably even hard to accomplish without wanting to announce it. He needs middle-to-upper class and/or potentially mildly racist white people to go vote for him. That's who he's talking to. Is it working? I don't know - as far as PA is concerned, this article cites polls that show Obama with a 13-point lead while McCain's advisers claim it's more like 3 or 4.
Post a Comment